Facebook is ready to say goodbye to the Irish tax haven and pay more taxes in the many countries in which it operates.
Mark Zuckerberg's giant is closing three holding companies in Ireland where it has channeled billions of profits to take advantage of a subsidized regime, avoiding heavier taxation in the US and the rest of the world.
The Times and the Guardian reported the news, later confirmed by Facebook.
The move, the Californian company explained, reflects "the recent and imminent changes in tax legislation" that governments are implementing in various states.
The Irish companies have been used to hold Facebook's intellectual property for international sales, and thus collect payments from other Facebook companies around the world.
According to the two newspapers, the main Irish subsidiary of Facebook would have paid only 101 million dollars in taxes on profits of 15 billion in 2018, the last year for which data is available.
Facebook International Holdings I Unlimited Company posted revenue of $ 30 billion in 2018 - more than half of Facebook's overall global revenue of $ 56 billion.
The decision to close the Irish divisions and bring the intellectual property back to the United States came after the Internal Revenue Service, the US government agency responsible for the collection of taxes, decided to take Facebook to court arguing that the social network must pay more of 9 billion dollars, linked to the transfer, in 2010, of its profits to Ireland.
"The intellectual property licenses related to our international operations have been repatriated to the United States," said Facebook.
"This change, which has been in effect since July this year, best aligns the business structure with where we expect to have most of our businesses and people. We believe it is consistent with recent and upcoming changes in tax legislation. that policy makers are advocating around the world. "
Starting with those of the European Union, which aim to converge on the web tax: an objective - explained in recent weeks the Minister of Economy Roberto Gualtieri - also at the center of the Italian presidency of the G20.